1. Field of Invention
The invention relates to tissue box holders and more particularly to such a tissue box holder for automobile with improved characteristics.
2. Description of Related Art
A conventional tissue (e.g., facial tissue) box 1 is shown in FIG. 14. For automobile application, the tissue box 1 is placed in a holder 2 of similar shape but with a larger size as shown in FIG. 15. The holder 2 is made of a hard material (e.g., metal, ABS plastic, or the like). The tissue box 1 is formed of cardboard. A plurality of tissues are folded and interleaved in the tissue box 1. The tissue box 1 has an oval opening (not numbered) on one of its six surfaces, and a gap 12 on an adjacent surface. The gap 12 is provided to facilitate the replenishment of tissues by opening the surface when the tissues in the tissue box 1 are used up.
The holder 2 is typically placed, for example, in a rectangular recess on a center console in an automobile. In use, a person may remove one tissue which is the partially out of the box 1 by pulling. As a result, another tissue is pulled partially out of the box 1.
However, the well known tissue box holder suffers from a couple of disadvantages. In detail, a person has to use one hand to hold the holder 2 and the other hand to pull a tissue in use because the holder 2 is not stationary. This is not convenient. Thus, the need for providing means to fix the tissue box holder 2 in an automobile application still exists. Moreover, only a tissue box having a size smaller than the holder is adapted to mount therein. In short, the holder is designed to receive a tissue box of the same shape but with a smaller size and thus it is not adaptable.
There have been numerous suggestions in prior patents for tissue box holder. For example, U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,543,737, 6,886,794, and 7,275,656 disclose a tissue box holder.